Bible / Philippians

Philippians 3

World English Bible, Catholic edition, in plain modern English. About the translations

1 Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord! To write the same things to you, to me indeed is not tiresome, but for you it is safe.

2 Beware of the dogs; beware of the evil workers; beware of the false circumcision.

3 For we are the circumcision, who worship God in the Spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh;

4 though I myself might have confidence even in the flesh. If any other man thinks that he has confidence in the flesh, I yet more:

5 circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; concerning the law, a Pharisee; Fathers

6 concerning zeal, persecuting the assembly; concerning the righteousness which is in the law, found blameless. CCC

7 However, I consider those things that were gain to me as a loss for Christ.

8 Yes most certainly, and I count all things to be a loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I suffered the loss of all things, and count them nothing but refuse, that I may gain Christ CCC

9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own, that which is of the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith, CCC

10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, becoming conformed to his death, CCC

11 if by any means I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. CCC · Fathers

12 Not that I have already obtained, or am already made perfect; but I press on, that I may take hold of that for which also I was taken hold of by Christ Jesus.

13 Brothers, I don’t regard myself as yet having taken hold, but one thing I do: forgetting the things which are behind and stretching forward to the things which are before,

14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

15 Let us therefore, as many as are perfect, think this way. If in anything you think otherwise, God will also reveal that to you.

16 Nevertheless, to the extent that we have already attained, let’s walk by the same rule. Let’s be of the same mind.

17 Brothers, be imitators together of me, and note those who walk this way, even as you have us for an example.

18 For many walk, of whom I told you often, and now tell you even weeping, as the enemies of the cross of Christ,

19 whose end is destruction, whose god is the belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who think about earthly things.

20 For our citizenship is in heaven, from where we also wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, CCC

21 who will change the body of our humiliation to be conformed to the body of his glory, according to the working by which he is able even to subject all things to himself. CCC

This chapter in the Catechism and the early Church

Where the Catechism of the Catholic Church cites these verses (from its footnotes on vatican.va), and where the earliest Church Fathers quote them (Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1, public domain). Short quotes only; follow the links for the full text. The Catechism uses modern verse numbers, so these are listed by chapter.

  1. Read the Fathers
    • “Trypho," says he, "I am called; and I am a Hebrew of the circumcision,”

      Quoted in Dialogue with Trypho, St. Justin Martyr (c. AD 160), Chapter I. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1

  2. Read the Catechism
    • CCC 752 “In Christian usage, the word "church" designates the liturgical assembly, but also the local community 142 or the whole universal community of…”
  3. Read the Catechism
    • CCC 428 “Whoever is called "to teach Christ" must first seek "the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus"; he must suffer "the loss of…”
    • CCC 2653 “The Church "forcefully and specially exhorts all the Christian faithful . . . to learn 'the surpassing knowledge of Jesus Christ' (…”
    • CCC 133 “The Church "forcefully and specifically exhorts all the Christian faithful... to learn the surpassing knowledge of Jesus Christ, by frequent reading of…”
  4. Read the Catechism
    • CCC 428 “Whoever is called "to teach Christ" must first seek "the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus"; he must suffer "the loss of…”
  5. Read the Catechism
    • CCC 428 “Whoever is called "to teach Christ" must first seek "the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus"; he must suffer "the loss of…”
    • CCC 648 “Christ's Resurrection is an object of faith in that it is a transcendent intervention of God himself in creation and history. In…”
    • CCC 989 “We firmly believe, and hence we hope that, just as Christ is truly risen from the dead and lives for ever, so…”
    • CCC 1006 “It is in regard to death that man's condition is most shrouded in doubt." In a sense bodily death is natural, but…”
  6. Read the Catechism and Fathers
    • CCC 428 “Whoever is called "to teach Christ" must first seek "the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus"; he must suffer "the loss of…”
    • CCC 989 “We firmly believe, and hence we hope that, just as Christ is truly risen from the dead and lives for ever, so…”
    • CCC 1006 “It is in regard to death that man's condition is most shrouded in doubt." In a sense bodily death is natural, but…”
    • “Of which resurrection the apostle speaks in the Epistle to the Philippians: "Having been made conformable to His death, if by any means I might attain to the resurrection which is from the dead.”

      Quoted in Against Heresies, Book V, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 180), Chapter XIII. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1

  7. Read the Catechism
    • CCC 1003 “United with Christ by Baptism, believers already truly participate in the heavenly life of the risen Christ, but this life remains "hidden…”
    • CCC 2796 “When the Church prays "our Father who art in heaven," she is professing that we are the People of God, already seated…”
  8. Read the Catechism
    • CCC 556 “On the threshold of the public life: the baptism; on the threshold of the Passover: the Transfiguration. Jesus' baptism proclaimed "the mystery…”
    • CCC 793 “Christ unites us with his Passover: all his members must strive to resemble him, "until Christ be formed" in them. "For this…”
    • CCC 999 “How? Christ is raised with his own body: "See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself"; but he did…”
  9. Philippians 3:29 in modern Bibles
    Read the Fathers
    • “… is in heaven, from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus, who shall transfigure the body of our humiliation conformable to the body of His glory, even as He is able (ita ut possit) according to the working of His own power.”

      Quoted in Against Heresies, Book V, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 180), Chapter XIII. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1